Fort McMurray To Host Artistic Gymnastics Provincials

The Artistic Gymnastics Provincial Championships are back for another year.

Fort McMurray hosted the event in 2016 but this year a few changes have been made to the Artistic Provincials.

Four women’s events will take place including – floor, beam, vault and uneven bar competitions which will see some of Alberta’s best artistic gymnasts go head to head.

The men’s competition will consist of rings, high bar, parallel bars, pommel horse, floor and vault.

Vice President of the Norfort Gymnastics Board Kara Boulton tells Mix News about some of the new events taking place this year.

“We have our men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics, we have our acro-provincials and we have our trials to nationals. It’s the amount of quality in sports that are coming to Fort McMurray to represent gymnastics in Alberta. It’s huge.”

This year’s championship is expecting 500 athletes from all over the province including, 100 coaches, 50 officials and thousands of spectators.

This will be the first year that provincials include an Acrobatic Gymnastic portion to the championship.

Julie Inkster is the Treasury of the Norfort Gymnastics Board and she describes the Acro-Gymnastic portion.

“It’s women’s teams of three gymnasts and men’s teams of four – the time allowed for each exercise is two minutes and thirty seconds, Inkster said.

Alberta’s top gymnasts from ages 6 to 20-somethings will compete will compete for provincial titles and a shot at the national stage.

Boulton talks about all the work that goes into putting together an event of this magnitude.

“There’s a lot of volunteers, it’s a lot of manpower – it’s a lot of Norfort parents, it’s a lot of judges and coaches and athletes coming from all over Alberta – it’s the best of the best and it’s going to be great.”

In partnership with the Alberta Gymnastics Federation – Norfort is hosting the event at Mac Island for a second straight year.

The 2017 Provincial Championships takes place from April 7th to the 9th.